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This anime is about a junior middle school girl, Kagome, who lives in a Shinto shine with her family, her mother, brother, and grandpa. Her grandpa tells her about a sacred jewel, the Shikon Jewel, that possesses great powers. Shortly after, a centipede demon comes to claim the jewel and pulls Kagome into a well on the grounds. She finds herself in Feudal Japan!
Kagome comes to find out that she is the reincarnation of a priestess, Kikyo, who protected the Shikon Jewel with her life. InuYasha, a half demon who had a relationship with Kikyo, was shot by Kikyo’s arrow fifty years before, which sealed him to a tree. It is Kagome that releases him from this. During a battle with numerous demons, Kagome, who tries to wield a bow and arrow like Kikyo did, shoots the demon in the spot where the jewel was swallowed. The Shikon Jewel is shattered and spread throughout the area. It’s up to Kagome to find and retrieve all the pieces of the Shikon Jewel before they fall into evil hands.

InuYasha, who wants the jewel for himself to become a full demon, decides to help her. They make friends with a lecturous monk, a fox demon, a flea, a demon slayer, and her demon cat who all help them collect the pieces. There are problems around every corner; InuYasha’s brother, Sesshomaru, is a major rival. Naraku is the main antagonist, responsible for the feud between InuYasha and Kikyuo. If I explained every problem that comes up in this anime, I’d be here all night writing this and soon you would tire of reading it.

The anime is mostly an action/adventure type anime, but there is a major romance that happens between InuYasha and Kagome. The characters are so deep; each one has their ups and downs. Kagome can be annoying at times, but she has good intentions. InuYasha is really immature, but he’s really funny. Sesshomaru is one of my favorites. He’s stoic…strong, silent, and sexy (especially in his demon form). The other characters are great, too. Like I said before, they are so deep. There will be times when you won’t like certain characters, but there are times when you see their vulnerability and their charms.

The music is another thing that I can’t completely write out. The anime is 193 episodes in all, including The Final Act; there’s also four movies, and 56 volumes of the manga. There’s twenty songs, I think. My favorites, though, are “Every Heart” by BoA (4th ending) and “Fukai Mori” by Do As Infinity (2nd ending).

For me, the English dub is best. I think the voices match better with the characters. The artwork, though it’s not my style, is one of the best. I would recommend this to anyone whether they prefer more fighting or more romantic aspects to anime. Both my husband and I love this anime and our preferences are almost complete opposites.

This anime is almost as cute as it is humurous. Chobits is about Hideki Motosuwa, a boy who is attending a prep school in Tokyo. He dreams of owning a persocom, or Chobits, a life-size personal computer, but they are so expensive. On his way to his apartment one night, he finds one in the trash. He takes in home and…it works! There’s only one thing; it may work, but it has been completely wiped out. The only thing this beautiful persocom can say is “chi.”

Hideki decides to keep her and hopefully she can learn. Chii, as Hideki calls her, spends the majority of the anime learning new things, which is really funny. She is sent out to buy underpants for herself and, while she’s walking down the street, she starts lifting up girl’s skirts shouting “underpants!” Hideki’s neighbor and friend, Hiromu Shinbo, has a mobile persocom, Sumomo, who helps Chii in making sure she gets things right.

The big plot behind all this is where Chii comes from and her relationship with Hideki. Persocoms are not supposed to have emotions, but somehow she does. They have to find out where she comes from so that they can figure out why she is having emotions.

Hideki is your typical Japanese anime male character. He is generally a nice guy, but he gets embarassed very easily. Chii is just plain cute! Sumomo is one of my favorites; she’s fun and always ready for anything. While the majority of the anime is comedic, towards the end it becomes very dramatic. Throughout the anime, there is a romantic relationship building between Chii and Hideki.

There are four songs in all. The opening theme is “Let Me Be With You” by Round Table and Nino. “Reason to Be” by Rie Tanaka is the first theme, the second is “Mermaid Princess” by Rie Tanaka, and the third is “Awkward Love” by Rie Tanaka and Tomokazu Sugita. The opening is my absolute favorite of them all.

There’s 8 volumes for the manga and the anime is 26 episodes long. I, for one, feel that the ending isn’t enough. The last episode, I wanted to complete the entire story, but it just left me a little underwhelmed. That’s not to say I didn’t love the anime because I did! It’s really a fun anime for anyone wanting to watch a romantic comedy.

So, this is my first review of a drama. This is also the first drama that I’ve seen. I found it pretty interesting…in a really good way.

Hana Kimi is a Japanese Drama based on a manga about a girl, Mizuki Ashiya, who pretends to be a boy and enters an all boys school in order to meet Izumi Sano. She’s from the U.S. and met Sano went he was there for a competition where he does the high jump. Mizuki found out shortly after that Sano quick the high jump because of an injury, which we later find out that she caused. She feels that it’s her responsibility to make him jump again.

Mizuki does everything in her power to get Sano to make the high jump again, but Sano is stubborn and thinks that Mizuki is just annoying and nosy. He eventually does find out that she is a girl and she does make some progress with him, but it’s been so long since Sano has even tried the high jump that it’s going to be a long and painful journey to make it. Nakatsu, a friend of Mizuki’s, begins to fall in love with her (not knowing that she is a girl), which makes for an interesting sinario.

Drama is probably the best word to describe this…drama (Lol.), but there’s twists around every corner that keeps you guessing. I won’t tell you too much, but Mizuki’s family doesn’t know that she’s going to an all boys school, Nakatsu thinks he could be a homo, and Mizuki has to keep the fact that she’s a girl completely secret. There’s also tons of comedic moments, mostly Nakatsu; he’s my favorite.

You’ll really fall for all the characters. Each boy in this school has their own quirks and charms. Nanba, the head of dorm 2, is a “player” and he’s always getting into trouble with all his girlfriends. Sano (right) can be a complete ass, but he has his funny moments too when he’s drunk (the littlest bit of alcohol makes him want to kiss anyone around him). Nakatsu (left) is the most awkward of the bunch, but he’s very sweet and keeps an eye on Mizuki (center) protecting her. Mizuki is a lead female character that I actually love. She’s kind and fun and even though she’s never been in love before, her relationship with Sano can be very cute. Even though I love Nakatsu, I was rooting for her and Sano the whole time.

Maki Horikita does a fantastic job of being Mizuki. She does look very androgynous. Shun Oguri, though I’m not a fan, does a great job of portraying Sano’s character. Toma Ikuta, Nakatsu, is one I became a quick fan of…he’s cute! The acting was fantastic in my opinion.

I wasn’t a big fan of the music used for this drama, but it was ok. It consists of 12 episodes, though it seemed like more than that, which is a good thing! The manga has 22 volumes. I all but demand you to watch it! I swear I’m on my knees begging! It’s fantastic.

This drama was recommended to me because I liked Hana Kimi. I wanted something that was fun and light compared to Boys Before Flowers, which I watched previously. This definitely stood up to that.

You’re Beautiful is a Korean Drama that, like Hana Kimi, is about a girl who pretends to be a boy. Go Mi Nyu is a girl who grew up in a convent with her twin brother Go Mi Nam. Mi Nyu is in the process of becoming a nun while her brother wants to be a famous singer. The day before she is to leave for Rome, she is bombarded by her brother’s manager who begs her to pretend to be her brother. Mi Nam has been accepted to be the popular band, A.N.Jell’s new member. Mi Nam, who is currently in the U.S. receiving a cosmetic surgery, will not recover before the new member’s introduction to the band. To keep her brother’s dream going, she does this.

The leader of the band, Hwang Tae Kyung (far left), who doesn’t like anyone or anything, treats “Mi Nam” badly. He shuns her and anything she does. She, of course, is clumsy and causes a lot of mishaps which don’t actually make the guy like her at all. There are two other members, Jeremy (right) and Kang Shin Woo. Shin Woo and Tae Kyung actually end up falling for her as does Jeremy, but he doesn’t realize “Mi Nam” is a girl until much later. Mi Nyu loves Tae Kyung and only thinks of the other two as friends, though.

Mi Nyu has to go through a lot in the drama, 16 episodes, in order to keep her secret, well, a secret. In doing so, she tries to find the mother she never knew and discovers what love is. She also has to deal with anti-fans, a pop singer who’s in love with Tae Kyung, and producing a solo album.

This drama was so much fun to watch. I love all the characters! Tae Kyung has a serious OCD problem and I loved watching him overly clean self. Not to mention, I’m a Jang Geun Suk fan, he’s so cute. Jeremy was a complete mess for the first few episodes. He thought he was gay for a while so it was pretty funny. Shin Woo is one of those hopeless romantic guys that you like for a while, but then it gets really old. I thought the acting was good, too. They all have their own little tics that make their characters; for example: Tae Kyung calls Mi Nyu a “pig-rabbit” and he always scrunches his lips up when he’s thinking.

The music for this drama was actually pretty good. I like the A.N.Jell song, “Still.” I found myself singing to that song every time it was played. It’s definitely a show to watch. (I know I say that about everything now, but I’m serious!)

I will warn you now…this is going to be a rather extensive review. This is one of my favorite anime and I have seen it, all the way through, three times. Ouran, for me, is one of the best anime I have seen.

Fujiyoka is a girl who just started her first year at Ouran Academy, a private school. She is a commoner who is there on scholarship. The anime opens to Haruhi looking for a quiet place to study. The libraries are full and noisy so she sets off to find an open room. She comes across an old music room that, she thought, wasn’t being used. Opening the door, she is greeted by the Ouran High School Host Club!

This group of quite attractive boys believe that she is a boy accompanied by the belief that “he” is into boys because “he” is at the host club. Haruhi, who is dressed in casual clothes, short hair, and glasses, doesn’t appear to be a girl at all. In the process of trying to escape their leader’s grasp, she knocks a vase off its pedestal. They inform her that this vase costs approximately 8,000,000 Yen, or $80,000. Of course, she offers to pay it back, but she can’t afford it so they tell her that she will be the host’s dog until she pays them by through work. The boys do find out that she’s a girl by the end of the first episode, but they decide that instead of being their “dog,” she will work off her debt by being a host, thus, dressing as a boy the entire time.

The anime is ultimately about her time spent as a host, but it’s also about the relationships between the boys and herself. A lot of people think of Haruhi as a “lesser being” because of where she’s from. “Lineage counts first, wealth a close second.”

The characters are some of my favorite characters of all anime I’ve seen. Tamaki Suou, the “Princely Type,” is a rich French-Japanese boy who at times can be completely dense. He comes to think of Haruhi as his “daughter,” and he her “Daddy.” However, it turns out to be much more than that. Kyoya Ootori, the “Cool Type,” is the genius boy who wears glasses. Tamaki calls him the “Mommy” of the group. Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, the “Little Devil Type” or otherwise known as “Twincest,” are known for their forbidden love because they are twins. They are my favorites, especially Hikaru, who is the more dominant of the two. Takashi Morinozuka, or “Mori,” the “Stoic Type,” is the quiet one, but he protects his cousin, Honey, with his life. Mitsukuni Haninozuka, or “Honey”, the “Lolita Type,” is this super-cute boy who is always seen with his bunny, Usa-chan, and eating cake. Mori and Honey are both martial artists, though they may not act like it at all.

One of my other favorite characters is a minor one. Umehito Nekozawa, is President of the Black Magic Club. He always dresses in a black cloak, because he can’t be in the light, and carries around a cat puppet named Belzeneff. There are a couple of episodes focused on Nekozawa. Tamaki is scared of him to a very comedic point.

There are plenty of moments where problems ensue. Hikaru and Kaoru get into a fight, Honey goes missing, Haruhi is kidnapped by a girl’s school, and other character’s have problems that need to be solved. Every episode has a new problem being brought up. There’s an episode that involves the school’s newspaper club; they have a problem with posting rumors and fake articles. It’s one of the funniest episodes simply because of how Tamaki acts. He is the ultimate source of comedy in this anime. Although, the other characters have their moments, too.

Ouran Host Club is classified as being a drama, though it has more comedy as well as romance. Tamaki bases the club on his rule that they must make every woman happy no matter how young, old, poor, or wealthy. This causes him to want to help in quite a few situations that could possibly cause trouble. It’s filled with so many moments where you laugh until you can’t breathe and then want to watch again and again. However, there are times where the characters touch your heart and make you fall in love. (Damn Hikaru and Nekozawa for being animated! ^_^)

There are so many other minor characters that I could go into. Haruhi’s dad plays a big part in most of the anime; I’ll let you watch it and figure out why he’s funny, though. Renge, who becomes a part of the host club, is a power-hungry girl who is madly in love with Kyoya. I don’t want to spoil too much of the anime for you so I’ll leave it there for now.

For me, this anime is a must see for anyone. Sadly, those who aren’t into the romantic comedies won’t be too thrilled with it. It’s so much fun and you’ll want to keep it in your collection forever. There are two songs, both of which are fantastic. The English Dubbed anime has the songs re-done in English. The English songs are as follows: Sakura Kiss by Kristine Sa (opening) and Sprint by Justin Houston (ending). The Japanese versions are: Sakura Kiss by Kawabe Chieco and Shissou by Last Alliance.

As far as voices, I thought the English was fantastic. Vic Mignogna does the voice for Tamaki, Caitlin Glass voices Haruhi, J. Michael Tatum as Kyoya, Todd Haberkorn as Hikaru, Greg Ayres as Kaoru, Luci Christian as Honey, and Travis Willingham as Mori. The Japanese version, I watched enough to hear the voices of each and thought that they were fine, but not near as spot-on to the personalities of the characters as the English.

Host Club consists of 26 episodes. There is a manga, which is at 18 volumes, 83 chapters. There is a visual novel (Playstation 2 & Nintendo DS), but they are only in Japanese at the moment. There are rumors, however, of them being released in English in the future.

Eveamlizya

I'm a 22 year old boring stay-at-home wife. I love anime, manga, and Japanese music. I also love writing, studying the occult, and crafting. I am combining a few of my loves and writing reviews of the anime, manga, and music I come in contact with.